Supply pressures set to hit PC market in 2026

Global PC shipments of desktops, notebooks and workstations rose by 3.2 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, reaching 64.8 million units, according to market intelligence firm Omdia.

The company reported that notebooks, including mobile workstations, recorded a modest increase of 2.6 per cent, with shipments totalling 50.8 million units during the quarter.

At the same time, desktops, including desktop workstations, performed slightly better, rising by 5.4 per cent to reach 14.0 million units.

According to the research, growth was driven by vendors and channel partners pulling orders forward ahead of expected increases in component costs, as well as the continuation of the Windows 10 replacement cycle and a heavier than usual round of spring product launches across Windows manufacturers and Apple.

“With supply-chain pressures still building, Q1’s modest growth is likely to mark the high point for the year,” said Ben Yeh, Principal Analyst at Omdia.

“Memory and storage costs are expected to rise further, and more steeply than previously assumed from Q2, squeezing PC vendor gross margins and forcing them to pass costs through to channel partners and end-customers,” he added.

“AI data centre build-outs are crowding consumer categories out of memory and storage supply, which have already seen roughly five-fold and three-fold cost increases respectively since Q1 2025,” he explained.

“CPU prices are a smaller but compounding pressure, with Intel and AMD projecting increases of 10 to 25 per cent into Q2,” he said.

The report indicated that rising costs across the bill of materials are encouraging vendors to protect shipments, revenue and margins by accelerating deliveries.

Omdia’s regional analysis suggested that this behaviour was evident across most of the first quarter.

Preliminary data showed that channel partners in North America have already absorbed as much inventory as possible before higher end-user prices take effect.

In Japan, the market has begun to experience a more pronounced downturn, affected by the high shipment base in the first quarter of 2025 and more severe cost and supply pressures in the education segment.

The report also pointed out that, following the education-driven surge throughout 2025, fading policy momentum could become a key factor behind market contraction in 2026.

In terms of vendor performance, Lenovo retained its leading position in the first quarter of 2026, further increasing its market share.

The company recorded year-on-year growth of 8.7 per cent, with shipments reaching 16.5 million units and market share surpassing 25 per cent.

HP remained in second place, although weaker performance in Europe and the United States led to a 4.9 per cent decline, with shipments falling to 12.1 million units.

Dell continued its strong momentum from the previous quarter, posting 7.8 per cent growth as shipments reached 10.3 million units.

Apple achieved a market share of 11 per cent, with shipments increasing by 5.4 per cent, supported by solid MacBook Air sales and the initial rollout of the MacBook Neo.

Asus maintained double-digit growth, with shipments rising to 4.6 million units and market share reaching 7.1 per cent.